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JOURNAL OP HOETICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ August 29, 1872. 



iii animals, since electricity kills and crushes them as it does 

 animals.^ Plants may be also put to sleep by washing them in 

 opium dissolved in water, and hydrocyanic acid destroys their 

 ■vitality as quickly as it does that of animals. — (Mechanics' 

 Magazine.) 



THE BEDDING-OUT IN THE LONDON PARKS. 



The present season has been in some respects unfavourable 

 to the production of effective displays of bedding-out plants. 

 After an unusually mild February there came a cruel biting 

 March, followed by destructive frosts in April and May, and 

 heavy rains in June. Accordingly planting-out could not 

 generally be accomplished so early as usual ; the flowers were 

 beaten off by the heavy rains, and the cool moist weather was 

 more favourable to the development of luxuriant foliage than 

 to the production of an abundance of flowers. Owing to the 

 weather and other causes the bedding plants in the London 

 Parks were this year turned out exceptionally late, but when 

 the work was commenced it was carried on with such energy 

 and order that the whole was completed in a fortnight, and 

 the results obtained, despite all the drawbacks referred to, 

 are worthy of all praise; indeed some of the arrangements 

 excel those of last year in tastefulness, while the general effect 

 is at least equally good. 



Taking Hyde Park first, for there it is that the principal 

 combinations are to be found, we shall start from the lodges 

 at Stanhope Gate on the Park Lane side, and travel in the 

 first place towards the Marble Arch. The lodges are covered 

 with climbers, among which Clematis Jackmanni is flowering 

 gaily, and the window boxes are enlivened by a profusion of 

 flowers. Prom this point the beds on the right hand are all 

 oblongs, alternating between the Plane trees by the side of the 

 park railing. These are all margined with Lobelia "White 

 Perfection, and edged with Golden Feather Pyrethrum, within 

 which is a band of Sportsman Verbena, a free-flowering, rosy- 

 purple variety. This combination is very pleasing, especially 

 the Verbena with the Golden Feather, while the Lobelia forms 

 a dwarf close hedge covered with pure white flowers. The 

 centres of the beds are Gaines' Yellow Calceolaria ; Pelargo- 

 nium Lucius, one of the best of the rose scarlets ; Cybister, 

 very good ; Waltham Seedling ; Madame Vaucher ; Glow, bright 

 scarlet, retaining its blooms for a long time, and forming a 

 compact bed covered with an abundance of flowers ; and the 

 centre bed Gaines' Dwarf Yellow Calceolaria. The planting of 

 the other half of the beds corresponds to that of the first half, 

 being Glow, Orange Nosegay, Madame Vaucher, Waltham 

 Seedling, Cybister, and Lucius Pelargoniums, and Gaines' 

 Dwarf Yellow Calceolaria, terminating at the South Street gate 

 in a circle margined with Sempervivum montanum edged with 

 Mesembryanthemum cordifolium variegatum, a very neat kind 

 beautifully variegated with yellow. The beds in front next 

 the main area of the park consist of alternate circles and ob- 

 longs rounded at the ends. The circles each contain a Lucombe 

 Oak, and form pincushion beds of blue Lobelia margined with 

 Sempervivum montanum. The oblongs are margined with 

 Sempervivum tectorum, the common Houseleek, edged with 

 Alternanthera magnifica, within which are bands of Stachys 

 lanata, Purple King Verbena, and Crystal Palace Gem Pelar- 

 gonium. These beds are very effective. 



Continuing from the South Street gate, on the right hand 

 the beds are margined with blue Lobelia and Dactylis glome- 

 rata variegata, and edged with Iresine Lindeni. The effect of 

 the blue Lobelia and the Cock's-foot Grass is peculiarly elegant, 

 giving a light feathery appearance, while the compact line of 

 the clark-leaved Iresine offers a strong but not violent con- 

 trast. In the centres of beds Purple King Verbena, dotted 

 among Queen of Queens white-variegated Pelargonium has an 

 excellent effect;' and noticeable in others are Pelargonium 

 Eev. Joshua Dix scarlet, very fine ; Mrs. Laing Nosegay, very 

 free-flowering; Lucius, good in all the beds where it occurs ; 

 Cybister ; and Abutilon Thompsoni with Centaurea ragusina, 

 We have now reached the large Elm tree on the left-hand side 

 of the walk. Here there is an extremely fine series of beds, of 

 which the central and two end ones are gorgeous masses of 

 Coleus Verschaffelti, and the two beds between are of Crystal 

 Palace Gem Pelargonium with the flowers picked off. All 

 these beds are margined with the neat rosettes of Echeveria 

 seeunda glauca, edged with the rich lively-coloured Alternan- 

 thera amcena, within which there is a band of Centaurea. 



Proceeding onwards towards the Mount Street gate the beds 

 on the right-hand side of the walk of course have the same 



margin and edging as those on the same side before the tree 

 is reached, and like them are planted with Pelargoniums Chris- 

 tine ; Nirnrod, rather strong-growing but bright in colour ; Amy 

 Hogg, not so good as usual ; Lord Palmerston, very effective, 

 quite a mass of bloom ; and Crystal Palace Gem. The beds on 

 the left-hand side are in pairs, and consist of eight oblongs, 

 with two heart-shaped beds at each end. The heart-shaped 

 beds are- fine masses of Alternanthera magnifica, surrounded 

 with Gnaphalium lanatum, then a row of cup-like plants of 

 Sempervivum Bollii, and a margin of Echeveria seeunda 

 glauca. On the Park Lane side the margin and edging of the 

 oblongs are formed respectively of Sempervivum californicum 

 and Alternanthera magnifica, and in all the first row is blue 

 Lobelia. The oblongs are planted with Purple King Verbena> 

 mixed with various Bronze and Gold and Silver-variegated 

 Pelargoniums — viz., Golden Superb Nosegay, a very good 

 variety ; Mrs. John Lee, fine dark bronze ; Creed's Seedling, an- 

 excellent yellowish-green-leaved free-flowering sort ; Albion's 

 Cliffs, over-vigorous to suit its neighbours, but fine of itself ; 

 Model, Crystal Palace Gem, Queen of Queens, and Luna. The 

 blue of the Lobelia and the golden leaves of the Pelargoniums 

 combine well, and the only fault that could be found with this 

 pretty arrangement was Albion's Cliffs having grown taller 

 than the rest. 



Between Mount Street and Grosvenor Gates we have fresh 

 combinations, in which the long beds on the right have thehr 

 ends swept out to correspond with circles of shrubs between 

 them. Golden Feather Pyrethrum is used as the margin, and 

 Amaranthus melancholicus ruber as the edging. These beds 

 are filled with Pelargoniums, the central one with Mui'illo, a 

 dark crimson variety with small trusses, but very effective ; 

 Lucius, Gaines' Dwarf Calceolaria, and Eubro-cinctum Pelar- 

 gonium, free-flowering, but of rather tall growth. The beds on 

 the other side are planted to correspond. On the left-hand 

 side of the walk, right and left of the Pihododendrons, the beds 

 are in pairs, four heart-shaped and two circular beds. The- 

 former are margined with Mesembryanthemum linguum, edged 

 with Antennaria tomentosa, and planted with a finely-coloured 

 form of Coleus Verschaffelti; the latter are margined with 

 Sempervivum californicum, edged with Gnaphalium lanatum, 

 and centred with Alternanthera magnifica. The oblongs are 

 all margined with Echeveria seeunda glauca, and edged with 

 Alternanthera amcena, which is very bright and perfect, and 

 when the whole series of beds is viewed from end to end it is 

 extremely effective, giving a glow of colour between the sober- 

 tinted Echeveria and Mesembryanthemum cordifohum varie- 

 gatum, which is planted as the first row. The central portions 

 of the various beds are filled with scarlet, pink, and white- 

 flowered Pelargoniums, alternately with silver and golden va- 

 riegated kinds, from which the flowers are kept picked off,, 

 mixed with blue Lobelia, which has a charming effect. Among 

 the flowering Pelargoniums Mrs. C. Custance, pink, with a 

 white eye, is a good dwarf kind, and Wellington, deep crimson 

 scarlet, are noticeable, the latter in particular by its large 

 trusses and free-flowering. 



From Grosvenor Gate to the Marble Arch the beds are- 

 scattered more thinly; there is more turf as well as more 

 foliage from the greater frequency of trees and shrubs. Among 

 the most noteworthy are beds of Excellent Pelargonium, Lord 

 Palmerston, Cuphea platycentra, and Coleus Verschaffelti, par- 

 ticularly an oblong of the last-named plant; surrounded with 

 Golden Pyrethrum, with Centaurea ragusina next the grass. 

 Two circles of white-variegated Geranium Annie, dotted over 

 a ground carpeting of blue Lobelia, edged with Iresine Herb- 

 stii look very well, also two oblongs planted with Centaurea 

 ragusina and Coleus Baroness Bothschild in alternate diagonal 

 bars, with a margin of Golden Feather Pyrethrum. Other 

 good . beds are Purple King Verbena, mixed with Pelargonium 

 Queen of Queens having the flowers left on, edged with Iresine 

 Herbstii, several beds of flowering Pelargoniums, and two 

 splendid ovals of Coleus Verschaffelti. Along the shrubberies 

 Stachys lanata is used for planting the margin, and behind 

 this are scarlet Pelargoniums, backed by the shrubs, which 

 throw out the colour of the flowers well, or in other words, 

 serve to enhance its brightness. Next comes a series of circles 

 in which Stachys lanata is used for the marginal planting, 

 and within this is a ring of blue Lobelia. Two of them planted 

 with Lantanas are very fine. Those used are Ne Plus Ultra, 

 rosy lilac, and Queen Victoria, white; a bed of Abutilon 

 Thompsoni and Iresine Lindeni mixed is likewise very effective. 

 Near the Marble Arch the series terminates with two circles of 

 the showy yellow-flowered Mesembryanthemum aurantiacum, 



